


Great Women Do Great Things

by Lady_Ganesh



Category: Naruto
Genre: Community: female_fest, Female Friendship, Female Protagonist, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-10
Updated: 2011-09-10
Packaged: 2017-10-24 00:43:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/256949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During the timeskip, Sakura gets to know Ino again. (Prompt was "You've made me stronger.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Great Women Do Great Things

Sakura did a lot of things, while the rest of her team was gone. (Oh, she saw Kakashi sometimes, but only in passing, and she'd always been aware he really didn’t know how to train her, or what to do with her in general.) She felt more independent than she'd ever been, even when she was taking orders from the Hokage, and she loved it.

It was strange, not seeing Naruto or Sasuke, and stranger still how quickly she got used to it. Instead, her days were filled with her other classmates, on the street or at the market, Shikamaru at the Hokage's office, Ino bringing flowers to the hospital.

Things were different now, with Ino. Her old friend and enemy was much more focused, just as determined as she was to train and get better. They ate lunch together, and as the months wore on, Ino got more comfortable telling stories of her team, especially the ridiculous things Chouji and Shikamaru got up to when they thought no one was paying attention.

One day they went out for a picnic; it was a beautiful summer day, the kind of day Kakashi would've had them all out training until they were ready to drop (Tsunade had warned them to enjoy lunch, promising the afternoon would be brutal). "And then," Ino said, _"then_ Shikamaru said, 'And we have to clean all this up now? What a pain.'"

Sakura laughed until she cried, and then found herself crying. Ino put her arms around her and squeezed until she pulled herself together again. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know--"

"I miss them too," Ino said. "I'm sorry."

"I'll be okay," Sakura said, wiping her nose and leaning into Ino's weight. "I have to be, how else am I going to--" she sniffed-- "beat you?"

Ino paused for a second, then grinned. "As if you could," she said.

Sakura giggled. "Are you kidding? I can beat you at _anything."_

"Don't make me drop you, sister."

They were both laughing again, and Sakura felt better. "Thanks," she said.

"No problem."

"I--" Sakura cleared her throat and straightened up again. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Me too," Ino said. "Who would've made me get better? Not the guys, that's for sure."

Sakura snorted. "We sure were dumb," she said. "But I'm glad. You made me stronger."

"You too," Ino said. "And I'm still gonna beat you," she grinned.

"You wish," Sakura grinned back.

"We'll see," Ino said. "Tsunade said I'd did really well yesterday."

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "And who taught you that?"

Ino stuck her tongue out at her.

"Face it," Sakura said, "you're just going to have to accept how wonderful I am."

Ino just ignored that, lying back across the grass and looking up at the sun. "Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"You think we'll be famous someday? Like the Hokage?"

Sakura thought about it. "I bet we will. Maybe more famous."

Ino smiled. "Yeah," she said. "The greatest healers in ninja history."

"Yeah," Sakura said. That sounded pretty good.


End file.
